Fri, Nov 15, 2024 | Jumada al-Awwal 13, 1446 | DXB ktweather icon0°C

Expo 2020 Dubai: Part of world's largest Holy Quran to go on display at Pakistan Pavilion

78 verses from Surah-e-Rahman are cast on the high-quality canvas in gold and aluminium

Published: Wed 19 Jan 2022, 8:24 AM

  • By
  • Muzaffar Rizvi

Top Stories

Expo 2020 Dubai is all set to showcase part of the world's largest Holy Quran at the Pakistan Pavilion, Khaleej Times has learnt.

Shahid Rassam, an award-winning artist and a former UAE expat, will display Surah-e-Rahman cast on a canvas with aluminium and gold-plated script for the first time in more than 1,400 years of Islamic history. The project will be showcased outside the Pakistani Pavilion from January 24.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood, Pakistan Ambassador to the UAE Afzaal Mahmood, senior officials of Expo 2020, diplomats and corporate executives will also attend the historic event to launch the first-of-its-kind project at the world's largest trade fair being held in Dubai for the first time in the region.

ALSO READ:

"This exhibit of the Holy Quran will not only be the biggest in the world but the most unique of its kind. This artefact is unique and innovative from various aspects. Its greatest distinction is that its words aren't written with colour or ink; instead, the words are cast," Rassam told Khaleej Times on Wednesday.

He said there are 1,585 letters, 352 words, 78 verses and three rukus in Surah-e-Rahman that are casted on a high-quality canvas with aluminium and gold-plated words.

"We will be displaying Surah-e-Rahman on six pages. First, two pages have only five lines on each page, while the rest four pages have 10 lines on each page. There are a total of 50 lines in Surah-e-Rahman," Rassam said.

In reply to a question, he said 15kg of aluminium and more than one kilogram of gold had been used to cast Surah-e-Rahman on the special canvas.

"With the help of a team of 200 artists, painters, calligraphers, designers and sculptors, I completed this amazing Surah-e-Rahman project in four months," Rassam said.

Irfan Mustafa, a Dubai-based entrepreneur and leading corporate leader, sponsored the project and convinced Rassam to share his work at Expo 2020.

He appreciated Rassam's quality work and said the Quran project would be a good addition to Expo 2020 Dubai.

"This is an extraordinary masterpiece and one of its kind in the world. I am sure expo visitors will see and appreciate the hard work done by Rassam and his team," said Mustafa.

- muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com



Next Story